Circular economy practices in the leather products industry toward waste valorization: an approach of sustainable environmental management

Purpose: The global resolution of embracing dynamic and intertwined production systems has made it necessary to adopt viable systems like circular economy (CE) to ensure excellency in the business. However, in emerging countries, it is challenging to implement the CE practices due to the existing problems in the supply chain network, as well as due to the vulnerable financial condition of the business after the deadly hit of COVID-19. The main aim of this research is to determine the barriers to implementing CE considering the recent pandemic and suggest strategies to organizations to ensure CE for a cleaner environment and greener economy. Design/methodology/approach: After an extensive literature review and validation from experts, 24 sub-barriers under the class of 6 main barriers are finalized by Pareto analysis, which is further analyzed via the best-worst method to determine the weight and rank of the barriers Further, fuzzy-Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is used to rank the proposed startegies to overcome the analysed barriers. Findings: The results identified "unavailability of initial funding capital”, "need long time investment”, "lack of integrating production system using advance technology” and "lack of strategic planning” as the most acute sub-barriers to CE implementation. Further, fuzzy TOPSIS method is used to suggest the best strategy to mitigate the ranked barriers. The results indicated "integrated design facility to CE”, "ensuring large scale funding for CE facility” as the best strategy. Practical implications: This study will motivate managers to implement CE practices to enjoy proper utilization of the resources, sustainable benefits in business, and gain competitive advantage. Originality/value: Periodically, a lot of work is done on CE practices but none of them highlighted the issues in the domain of the leather products industry (LPI) and COVID-19 toward achieving sustainability in production and consumption. Thus, some significant barriers and strategies to implement CE for achieving sustainability in LPI are highlighted in this study, which is a unique contribution to the literature. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

A Comprehensive Review of 275 Kidney Transplants Performed over 3 1/2 Years;a Single Center Experience

Introduction: Access to kidney transplantation has always been a problem in the African countries with many patients having to travel to other medically advanced countries in Asia, Europe and America. This involves unnecessary excessive expenditure and the travails of journey and stay in an unknown foreign land. To ease this situation and to provide affordable Renal transplant services in their home land, we have made an effort to start the transplant services at our medical facility and have successfully carried out about 275 transplants over a period starting from Nov 2018 till September 2022. Method(s): All the Kidney transplants done between the period Nov 2018- September 2022 (275 cases) were included in the analysis. All the transplants were performed at a single center and the data were collected progressively during their Pre transplant evaluation, perioperative course and post op follow up. All the laboratory and radiological tests were done locally at the center except the HLA cross matches and tissue typing, which were outsourced to Transplant immunology labs outside the country. All the patients with positive DSA titres [about 70%], underwent Plasmapheresis and received IVIg before the transplantation. immunological assessment was done by NGS high resolution, for A B C DP DQ DR loci and X match was done by SAB analysis for class 1 and Class II antigens. All the patients underwent laparoscopic donor nephrectomy. All Patients received vaccinations for Hepatitis B, Pneumonia, Infuenza & Covid. Result(s): A series of 275 kidney transplants were performed over a period of 42 months [ Nov 2018- September 2022] at a private hospital successfully. All the cases were live donor kidney transplants with majority of the donors being 1st or 2nd degree relatives or spousal donors. About 70% of the patients had some degree of sensitization in the form of weakly positive B cell X match, or positive for DSAs at CL I, CLII with MFIs > 1000. All high-risk patients received induction with rabbit Thymoglobulin, and IV methyl prednisolone. Around 50 patients received Basiliximab. Of all patients, 4were HBsAg positive, and 6 were HIV positive,& HCV 1 patient. 8 patients required pretransplant Parathyroidectomy for refractory hyperparathyroidism, 3 patients required simultaneous native kidney nephrectomy at the time of transplant. 25 patients had multiple renal vessels which were double barreled and anastamosed.4 patients had lower urinary tract abnormalities requiring simultaneous/subsequent repair. Overall, 4 patients underwent 2nd transplant. All the donors underwent laparoscopic nephrectomy. Most of the patients had good immediate graft function except in 40 patients, who had delayed graft function;most of them improving over 2 - 6 weeks. 6 Patients had hyperacute rejection and the graft was lost,.4patients had main renal artery thrombosis, Renal allograft biopsy was done in 20 patients. Overall, the Patient survival was 95 %.at 1 year and graft survival 90%. Conclusion(s): Our experience shows that kidney transplantation is a viable and practical option for End stage kidney disease and can be performed even in resource constrained centers in third world countries and the survival rates of patients and the grafts are comparable to other centers across the world. No conflict of interestCopyright © 2023

Effective Health Screening and Prompt Vaccination to Counter the Spread of COVID-19 and Minimize Its Adverse Effects

Precautionary measures are the best conceivable ways to impede the spreading of COVID-19 disease. Initial stage detection, proper analysis, suitable confinement, effective therapy and prompt vaccination are the key consideration to inhibit expedite transmission. Precautions are primarily concentrated on effective health screening, efficient treatment, and vaccination on time for each and every individual. Before the invention of COVID-19 vaccine, proper health checking or explorations are of predominant concern from therapeutic viewpoint as avoidance is superior than healing. At present scenario, impressive health screening through RT-PCR test, rapid antigen test, etc. is very imperative to identify Corona-positive cases in early stages even there is no disorders or symptoms of COVID-19 infection. Faster vaccination of most of the people, irrespective of cast, religion, and economic conditions, is indispensable to prohibit the transportation of such growing disorder and minimize its adverse effects. Recent literature reveals that most of the vaccines are safe and effective against coronavirus. A potent and competent vaccine lessens mild to moderate and serious conditions of COVID-19 patients regardless of comorbidities. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

Face Mask Detection in Public Places Using Small CNN Models

The spread of coronavirus can be prevented among the people in a crowded place by making face mask mandatory so that the droplets from the mouth and nose would not reach the masses nearby. The negligence of some people, i.e., by not wearing the mask, causes the spread of this pandemic. Therefore, persons who do not wear masks should be tracked at the entrance to public venues such as malls, institutions, and banks. The mechanism proposed warns if the individual is wearing or not wearing the mask. The proposed system is built in a small CNN model to integrate any low-end devices with minimal cost. The small CNN model like ShuffleNet and Mobilenetv2 are evaluated in Transfer Learning and Deep Learning but the Deep Learning model has better performance than the Transfer Learning. Again, the Deep Learning approach, i.e., mobilenetv2 plus Support Vector Machine achieved 99.5% accuracy, 99.01% sensitivity, 100% precision, 100% FPR, 99.51% F1 score, 99.01% MCC, and 99.01% kappa coefficient. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Survival strategies of SMEs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: application of SEM and fsQCA

Purpose: As a global pandemic, the COVID-19 crisis has profoundly affected the development of local firms, threatening the survival of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study aims to present an integrated framework by investigating the impact of strategic tools (i.e. firms’ capability of business agility, marketing operational efficiency, optimisation of innovation capability [OIC], managing employees’ satisfaction and rethinking customers’ experience) on the survival strategies of SMEs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The current study used data from managers of SMEs and conducted an asymmetrical analysis (i.e. structural equation modelling [SEM]) to investigate the factors influencing the survival strategies of SMEs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This study also applied an asymmetrical approach (i.e. fuzzy sets qualitative comparative analysis-fsQCA) to explore the causal recipes and analysis of the necessary conditions to identify the factors required to achieve the expected outcome. Findings: Results from SEM support all hypotheses. Results from fsQCA with the same data set show that firms’ business agility and OIC are necessary conditions for SMEs’ survival strategies. The result from fsQCA also reveals multiple sufficient conditions to succeed SMEs’ survival strategies amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Practical implications: Findings prescribe how SMEs adapt to this vulnerable business condition by applying the strategic tools and recipes suggested for survival. Originality/value: This research applied an innovative analysis to reveal necessary and sufficient conditions that conventional methods such as SEM have limited power. This pioneering research in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is considered novel in terms of the prescriptive strategic recipes offered to SMEs to adapt to and survive in the crisis caused by COVID-19. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Roles of Innovation Leadership on Using Big Data Analytics to Establish Resilient Healthcare Supply Chains to Combat the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multimethodological Study

This article empirically examines the effect of big data analytics (BDA) on healthcare supply chain (HSC) innovation, supply chain responsiveness, and supply chain resilience under the moderating effect of innovation leadership in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scanning interpretation-action-performance model and organization information processing theory are used to explain BDA, HSC innovation, responsiveness, and resilience relationships. First, the hypotheses were tested using data collected from 190 experienced respondents working in the healthcare industry. Our structural equation modeling analysis using the partial least squares (PLS) method revealed that BDA capabilities play a pivotal role in building a responsive HSC and improving innovation, which has contributed to resilience during the current pandemic situation. High innovation leadership strengthens the effect of BDA capabilities on HSC innovation. High innovation leadership also increases the effect of BDA capabilities on responsiveness. Second, we validated and supplemented the empirical research findings using inputs collected in 30 semistructured qualitative questionnaires. Our article makes a unique contribution from the perspective of innovation leaderships. In particular, we argue that the role of innovative leadership in the COVID-19 pandemic situation is critical as it indirectly affects HSC resilience when BDA is in place.

Journey of customers in this digital era: Understanding the role of artificial intelligence technologies in user engagement and conversion

Purpose: The first research objective is to understand the role of digital [artificial intelligence (AI)] technologies on user engagement and conversion that has resulted in high online activities and increased online sales in current times in India. In addition, combined with changes such as social distancing and lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, digital disruption has largely impacted the old ways of communication both at the individual and organizational levels, ultimately resulting in prominent social change. While interacting in the virtual world, this change is more noticeable. Therefore, the second research objective is to examine if a satisfying experience during online shopping leads to repurchase intention. Design/methodology/approach: Using primary data collected from consumers in a developing economy (India), we tested the theoretical model to further extend the theoretical debate in consumer research. Findings: This study empirically tests and further establishes that deploying AI technologies have a positive relationship with user engagement and conversion. Further, conversion leads to satisfying user experience. Finally, the relationship between satisfying user experience and repurchase intention is also found to be significant. Originality/value: The uniqueness of this study is that it tests few key relationships related to user engagement during this uncertain period (COVID-19 pandemic) and examines the underlying mechanism which leads to increase in online sales. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Key Success Factors for Supply Chain Sustainability in COVID-19 Pandemic: An ISM Approach

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in major disruptions to businesses, supply chains and economies alike. The negative effects of the pandemic are yet to be fully realised. In this study, we aimed to reflect on and explore strategies for supply chain sustainability in the face of business downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of this study is the heavy engineering industry in South Africa as it relies on a global supply chain network. The paper begins with a brief introduction of negative effects of COVID-19 on supply chains followed by the research questions that drives this study. We used a literature review to select the critical success factors which were further refined using experts’ opinion. These factors subsequently, were used as input to an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique. The ISM model yielded some interesting findings that can aid organizations in building resilient supply chains that are sustainable in nature. We conclude that organizations need to develop a culture of collaboration;since greater collaboration among value chain members is required to create a more resilient supply chain. © 2021, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.

Which strategies are appropriate for the fight against the worldwide coronavirus crisis?

With the increasing spread of the coronavirus outbreak and the health crisis it causes for millions of human beings all over the world since December 2019, governments are struggling to adopt the best specific strategies in order to save human lives and curtail the virus spread. More precisely, governments, big public corporations as well as private companies are offering their support via positive leadership and efficient operating systems as well. In this perspective, it seems that digital tools/technologies and specific cultural aspects can widely help to face more rapidly the coronavirus crisis and its devastating consequences. The present paper aims at an in-depth understanding of the coronavirus crisis, its main appearing phenomena, as well as the different strategies chosen by the different stakeholders/organisations in order to tackle it and sustain their survival. Managers, state officials, as well as entrepreneurs, can learn from the current study how to implement better successful strategies to limit the risks caused by such a crisis.

Assessing vulnerability of informal floating workers in Bangladesh before and during COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-method analysis

Purpose Globally, a myriad of floating workers is in grave jeopardy due to the ceasing of employment opportunities that resulted from the mobility restriction during the Covid-19. Despite the global concern, developing countries have been suffering disproportionately due to the dominance of informal workers in their labour market, posing the necessity to campaign for the immediate protection of this vulnerable population. This paper analyses various dimensions of the vulnerability of urban floating workers in the context of Covid-19 in Bangladesh. In reference to International Labour Organization's (ILO) "Decent Work" concept, this paper endeavours to examine floating workers' vulnerability using the insider-outsider framework in context to Covid-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, data were collected before the pandemic to assess the vulnerability of the informal floating workers. Later, we extended the study to the second phase during the Covid-19 pandemic to understand how pandemic affects the lives and livelihood of floating workers. In phase one, data were collected from a sample of 342 floating workers and analysed based on job security, wages, working environment, psychological wellbeing and education to understand the vulnerability of floating workers. In phase two, 20 in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted, followed by thematic analysis to explore how the pandemic affects the existing vulnerability of floating workers. Findings Various social protection schemes were analysed to evaluate their effectiveness in reducing the vulnerability of floating workers facing socio-economic crises. The study has found that the pandemic has multiplied the existing vulnerability of the floating workers on many fronts that include job losses, food crisis, shelter insecurity, education, social, physical and mental wellbeing. In response to the pandemic, the Government stimulus packages and Non-government Covid-19 initiatives lack the appropriate system, magnitude, and focus on protecting the floating workers in Bangladesh. Practical implications This paper outlines various short-term interventions and long-term policy prescriptions to safeguard floating workers' lives and livelihood from the ongoing Corona pandemic and unforeseen uncertainties. Originality/value This paper is the first of its kind that aims at understanding the vulnerability of this significant workforce in Bangladesh, taking the whole picture of Government and Non-government initiatives during Covid-19.

How big data analytics can help manufacturing companies strengthen supply chain resilience in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: In this paper, the authors emphasize that COVID-19 pandemic is a serious pandemic as it continues to cause deaths and long-term health effects, followed by the most prolonged crisis in the 21st century and has disrupted supply chains globally. This study questions “can technological inputs such as big data analytics help to restore strength and resilience to supply chains post COVID-19 pandemic?”;toward which authors identified risks associated with purchasing and supply chain management by using a hypothetical model to achieve supply chain resilience through big data analytics. Design/methodology/approach: The hypothetical model is tested by using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique on the primary data collected from the manufacturing industries. Findings: It is found that big data analytics tools can be used to help to restore and to increase resilience to supply chains. Internal risk management capabilities were developed during the COVID-19 pandemic that increased the company's external risk management capabilities. Practical implications: The findings provide valuable insights in ways to achieve improved competitive advantage and to build internal and external capabilities and competencies for developing more resilient and viable supply chains. Originality/value: To the best of authors' knowledge, the model is unique and this work advances literature on supply chain resilience. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

POS-752 A review of 100 kidney transplants performed over 16 months;a single center experience from an African country Abstract paid for submission 2020-A-WCN21-0206(100983862431)

Introduction: Access to kidney transplantation has always been a problem in the African countries. A brief overview of 100 kidney transplants done at our facility in 16 months is presented forthwith. Methods: All the Kidney transplants done between the period Nov 2018- October 2020 (100 cases) were included in thee analysis. All the transplants were performed at a single center and the data were collected progressively during their Pre transplant evaluation, perioperative course and post op follow up. All the patients with +Ve DSA titres underwent Plasmapheresis and received IVIg before the transplantation. All the recipients and the donors undergoing transplants during were screened for COVID -19, 5 days prior to admission by RT PCR and CT chest plain. All the patients received prophylaxis with favipiravir starting from the postop period and continued for 2 months at a dose of 200mg twice daily. Results: All the cases were live donor kidney transplants with majority of the donors being 1stor 2nd degree relatives or spousal donors. HBsAg +ve 2, HIV+Ve.3, 4 patients required pretransplant Parathyroidectomy for refractory hyperparathyroidism.3 patients required simulteneous native kidney nephrectomy, 8 patients had multiple renal vessels which were double barrelled and anastamosed. lower urinary tract abnormalities 2 requiring simultaneous/subsequent repair. 2 patients underwent 2nd transplant. Most of the donors underwent laparoscopic nephrectomy. 90% had good immediate graft function except in 10 patients, had DGF;9 of them improving over 2 -6 weeks. 8 Graft biopsies done. ATN 4 ABMR 3 ACR 1 There were 8 cases of mortality, 4 in the immediate postop period and 3 during the subsequent 3 months. Causes of mortality included Pneumonia, sepsis and liver dysfunction. 2 patients developed Covid +Ve. Overall the Patient survival was 92 %.at 1 year and graft survival 90%. Conclusions: kidney transplantation is a viable and practical option for End stage kidney disease and can be performed in resource constrained centers in third world countries. Transplants can be performed even during the COVID season with appropriate screening for COVID and probably prophylaxis with Favipiravir. No conflict of interest

Effective health screening to prevent infection and control the spreading of COVID-19

Health screening or examinations are of paramount importance from medical perspective as prevention is better than cure. In current pandemic situation, effective health screening is essential to detect COVID-19 in its early stage even when there have been no symptoms or signs of such disease. To prevent the transmission of such contagious infection, source control measures should be implemented for everyone in the facility, regardless of symptoms. Recent literatures stated that infected people having no symptoms also likely to perform a crucial role in the spread of corona virus in the society. To restrict the transmitting of such disease in community, it is imperative to identify the CORONA positive patient at each and every entry point of the market places, railway stations, airport premises, hospital buildings etc. and isolate them in an efficient manner. Rapid qualitative detection of such disease is made through body temperature measurement with IR thermal gun and RT-PCR test. Detection of COVID- 19 positive patient early means getting immediate treatment, restrict & control the transmission of such disease within the facility and limit the exposures for other patients and healthcare personnel. © 2021 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.

Real-time compact face-shield with internet of biomedical-things

Presently we are seeing the age of digitalization and people are getting exposed to advanced informative resource with the advancement of Internet of Biomedical-Things. Laudable electronic devices with biomedical instrumentation have several real-time applications in current pandemic situation. Currently coronavirus-19 is posing a serious threat to human race, compelling it to fear the unforeseen circumstances. A very marked rise in the number of infected cases all over the world has crippled us with fear. Several researches have been conducted and numerous working devices have been made to protect people from COVID-19. In this work a compact real-time face shield has been developed using basic electronic sensor with Internet-of-Things application. This device prototype has three major functions. First, shield is equipped with an external wiper with alcohol based sanitizing liquid that sanitizes the shield glass after a particular time interval which can be operated manually by user also. Second, IR sensor is used to detect the distance between user and other people to enforce social distancing. Third, a temperature measuring system has been installed to alert users regarding abnormal body temperature of people approaching the user. The suggested cost effective, compact real-time face shield will efficiently protect individuals against COVID 19. © 2021 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.